ONVIF, the heavyweight champion of global standardization for IP-based physical security, is stepping into the ring with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). Their mission? To safeguard the integrity of digital video in an era where content manipulation is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
The alliance will focus on promoting the use of open standards to verify video authenticity across digital platforms. Think of it as a digital handshake ensuring what you see is what you get. This initiative will align ONVIF’s video authentication tech with Content Credentials, the open standard championed by C2PA, which includes tech giants like Microsoft, Adobe, Google, Meta, BBC, and Truepic. The goal is to boost transparency and build confidence in the authenticity of digital content.
This collaboration couldn’t come at a better time. Deepfakes and AI-generated content are blurring the lines between reality and fabrication. These tools pose a significant threat to the trustworthiness of video used in law enforcement, corporate security, legal proceedings, and a host of digital media applications.
Globalizing standards
“We are happy to welcome ONVIF as a liaison member to the C2PA,” said Andrew Jenks, Executive Chair of the C2PA. “As the global standard for provenance, Content Credentials plays a vital role in providing transparency in digital media. The collaboration with ONVIF and the C2PA brings Content Credentials to video security—an environment where footage must reflect reality without alteration. We’re excited about our work together and the impact of our global, open standards.”
ONVIF’s video authentication specification, known as media signing, acts like a digital fingerprint. It cryptographically signs video footage at the moment of capture, using a unique digital key for each surveillance camera. These signatures are embedded in the video, allowing authentication tools to verify if the video has been tampered with at any point.
This is crucial for video evidence used in court, police investigations, and corporate security incidents. Any doubt about the video’s validity can undermine legal outcomes and erode public trust.
C2PA’s Content Credentials is a technical standard that allows anyone to trace the lifecycle of media. This includes knowing which camera captured an image, whether it was edited, and when. This information can then be displayed on websites or platforms, giving consumers more context.
Making footage tamper-proof
Content Credentials embed cryptographically signed metadata directly into images, video, audio, and documents, or store it in a manifest that travels with the content, making any alteration detectable. This metadata acts like a digital “nutrition label,” detailing the content’s origin, history, and any modifications made.
“Preserving the authenticity of video has never been more important as the threats from generative AI and other means of content manipulation continue to increase exponentially, regardless of industry and use case,” said Leo Levit, Chairman, Steering Committee, ONVIF. “The work of ONVIF to preserve video integrity and the recognition by the C2PA will help build user confidence that recorded video can be verified as genuine and untampered.”
ONVIF is a leading industry forum driving interoperability for IP-based physical security products. With a global membership of established camera, video management system, and access control companies, it boasts nearly 34,000 profile-conformant products. ONVIF offers Profile S for streaming video; Profile G for video recording and storage; Profile C for physical access control; Profile A for broader access control configuration; Profile T for advanced video streaming; Profile M for metadata and events for analytics applications and Profile D for access control peripherals.
ONVIF continues to collaborate with its members to expand the number of IP interoperability solutions its products can provide.